


Don't Miss this Chance

by gelowo93



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Fraternities & Sororities, Hazing, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-02-03 07:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1736045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gelowo93/pseuds/gelowo93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a Freshman steps in to stop the hazing of one of The Knights' pledges, Arthur knows he's got to get the boy for the Frat, and for himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For merlin-willcome-withme on tumblr, who prompted: you know how at the beginning of “dragons call”, arthur and his friends are antagonising that serving boy? well wouldnt’ it be cool to have the same sort of scene expect with frat brother!arthur and and his frat bros with a freshie who’s wanting to join “the knights”? and then merlin comes in (and he’s a feeshie too) and goes “you’ve ha your fun my friend” and then arthur is interested in him.
> 
> Thanks to multishipperpirateking for beta-ing this for me. Any remaining mistakes are my own.

Orientation week was both Arthur’s favourite and least favourite week of the school year.

It was his least favourite because of the number of potential pledges who tried to get his attention, usually in the wrong way. They would turn up to parties that they somehow knew he was going to be at and drink so much alcohol that they’d be passed out on the floor before midnight, or they’d constantly try to talk to him to prove how _cool_ they were, and how they deserved to be a member of the Knights. Then there were the decidedly uncool, who came to college and tried to reinvent themselves, but failed miserably and ended up stumbling over their words with their voices trailing off because they had lost Arthur’s attention, and everyone knew that Arthur’s time was valuable. He didn’t waste it on just anyone.

But once he got past that – or once he had learnt how to deal with it back at the beginning of his sophomore year – Arthur loved Orientation week. Living with his friends again, not having any lectures all week, going to and hosting house parties. It was the epitome of student life; no responsibilities, no one to please, nothing to do except enjoy himself.

And enjoy himself he did.

Especially at times like this. Arthur had been dragged away from watching TV with some of the others in their frat house with pleads of “you have to come” and “you’ve got the best aim”. He’d been reluctant to leave at first, not knowing what they were talking about, but he had soon realised what was happening.

They had led Arthur to a small patch of grass on the edge of campus where a blindfolded freshman stood in the middle, wearing nothing but his underwear, and with his arms tied behind his back with duct tape. One of Arthur’s frat brothers, Gwaine, was spinning him around. When Gwaine spotted Arthur, he nodded at him in acknowledgement, and stopped spinning the other boy so that he was facing Arthur.

The freshman stumbled forwards. Gwaine grabbed his shoulder and pulled him upright again. Arthur recognised the freshman as one of their pledges already. He looked kind of average: average height, average build, and brown hair and brown eyes, but when Arthur had first met him, he had held his drink a lot better than Arthur, and had even managed to beat Perceval – who had been sober – at pool. Arthur hadn’t been the only one who had been impressed.

But now it was the pledge’s turn to embarrass himself.

“What’s the plan?” Arthur asked the others who were milling around. As he said it, he noticed a box of water balloons off to the side of where everyone was standing.

“He has to last five minutes without getting hit by a water balloon. If he gets hit, we add another minute,” said one of Arthur’s frat brothers, Leon.

Arthur grinned.

“Take his blindfold off,” Arthur instructed Gwaine.

“You sure?”

“He’s not going to last five minutes without it, anyway, but might as well let him think he’s got a shot.”

Gwaine did as Arthur said, and walked over to where the rest of them were stood, dropping the blindfold next to the box of water balloons.

A small crowd had gathered around them. Some of them looked nervous and were staying further back - obviously new students curious about what was going to happen. Others were more eager, standing closer, with expectant smiles on their faces. Then there were the people slowing down as they walked past, wanting to see what was happening but too busy to stop.

Arthur ignored them all. He picked up one of the water balloons, throwing it from one hand to another a few times, before turning to Leon.

“Ready with the stopwatch?”

“Yeah. On three: one… two… three.”

Arthur threw the first balloon, and the pledge jumped back with a squawk to avoid it. He missed it by centimetres, but the bursting balloon left a splatter of red paint on his legs.  The pledge looked pleased with himself, as if happy that he had managed to avoid the first throw when he was the dizziest, and thinking that it would only get easier from now on.

He was wrong. Arthur gave the signal, and four water balloons flew through the air towards the pledge at the same time. Two of the balloons hit their mark, turning part of one leg green and and arm blue.

Arthur grabbed another balloon from the box, aiming it in anticipation of how the pledge was going to react to the others being thrown, and this time Arthur didn’t miss.

Soon, the grass, and the pledge, was multi-coloured with the paint from the water balloons. As soon as the first balloon had burst, the crowd had taken a collective step backwards, but the pledge was running around the entire grassy area in an attempt to not be hit, taking him closer to the crowd. If he thought that Arthur and his friends wouldn’t try to hit him if there was a chance they would hit their audience, then he was mistaken, because Arthur had no qualms about getting a bit of paint on someone’s shoes.

It had rained during the night, so, as well as the paint, mud was getting everywhere. The pledge was running on the grass, making it even more slippery and harder to run on. He had mud on his legs where he had slipped, and his feet were caked in it. Arthur wasn’t surprised, and he’d be disappointed if he found out that his frat brothers hadn’t decided to do this purely because it was a bit muddy.

Arthur watched him run for a moment, amused. He had been surprised at how good the pledge had been at avoiding the water balloons, and Arthur had upped his game, regretting telling Gwaine to take the pledge’s blindfold off. He picked up another water balloon, noticing that there were only a few left. Before throwing it, he watched the pledge’s feet, seeing where he was heading and whether he was going to fall –

The pledge’s foot hit the ground at a particularly slippery spot, and Arthur knew what was going to happen. The pledge’s expression turned from one of exhaustion and determination to panic as his foot went from under him, and his arms flailed in the air. Aiming quickly, Arthur threw the water balloon towards the place where he thought the pledge’s head would land, and, seconds later, it hit its target, covering him in red paint.

Cheers erupted from behind Arthur, and he turned around. He grinned at his frat brothers as they made their way over, slapping him on the back when they reached him.

“Hey!” A voice shouted from the crowd. “You’ve had your fun, my friend.”

Arthur glanced over his shoulder, and saw a boy breaking free of the crowd and walking towards him. The boy – and he really was a boy, fresh faced and with an innocent look in his blue eyes that told Arthur that he was a freshman – was an inch or two taller than Arthur, and glaring at him, but he was so skinny that it didn’t intimidate Arthur in the slightest. In fact, Arthur didn’t think a kitten would be intimidated by the boy, with his high cheekbones and mop of black hair. He didn’t look away though, and Arthur stared back.

“Do I know you?”

“No, I –”

“So I’m not your friend?”

“No, that was my mistake. I’d never have a friend who could be such an ass.”

There was a mixture of sniggering and loud “oooh”s from the crowd and Arthur’s frat brothers. One of them caught Arthur’s eye and lifted the water balloon that he was holding. Arthur shook his head minutely, turning back to the boy.

“What’s your name?” Arthur asked.

“Who’s asking?”

Arthur couldn’t prevent the smile from growing on his face, but he quickly composed himself. He liked this kid; he had guts. It helped that he was decently attractive; something that Arthur surprised himself by thinking. There was something about him that made Arthur’s insides squirm that he couldn’t put his finger on, but he thought it might have something to do with the hard look in his eyes and the way he refused to back down.

“Arthur Pendragon.” Arthur offered his hand for the boy to shake. He didn’t take it, and Arthur let his arm fall to his side.

“Merlin,” the boy said.

“Well, Merlin, how can I help you?”

“You could start by stopping this. You’re taking advantage of him because you think you can, and everyone lets you.  What’s the point of it?”

“It’s tradition, we can’t let anyone join the Frat. They have to prove themselves.”

“How is being bombarded with water balloons _proving themselves_?”

“Would you rather we make our pledges be our slaves for weeks? Or blindfold them, drive them to the middle of nowhere, drop them off, and see how long it takes them to find their way back? It’s tradition. We’re just having a bit of fun.”

“Fun.” Merlin’s voice was cold as steel. It contrasted with his youthful appearance so much that it almost made Arthur laugh, but he managed to restrain himself.

“You know, you’d fit right in with us. You’ve got guts, sticking up for this kid you don’t know.”

“It’s called being a decent person. Unlike you.”

“Woah, that’s not fair, you don’t know me. You’re a freshman, right? So you don’t know about the fundraising for charity that the Knights do, or how all our members regularly volunteer for various organisations? All you know about frats is the stereotypical rubbish in the newspapers. Sure, we have house parties, and have the usual initiation procedures, but we’re allowed to be decent people and not take everything so seriously all the time.”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed, as if he didn’t quite believe Arthur’s words, but the steely look lessened, and Arthur thought he might have convinced him that they weren’t alcoholics who traumatised other students before letting them in on the secret handshake. Arthur waited for Merlin to say something. When he didn’t, Arthur carried on,

“If you’re coming to college thinking that everyone acts just like the media presents students and you’re better than them because you’re different, then you’re going to have a long four years with few friends. Or you can drop your preconceived notions of students now, give people a chance before you judge them, and you’ll end up making friends with people you’d never imagine getting on with.”

“I really don’t want your advice.”

Arthur sighed. It was a shame Merlin was so stubborn. “You clearly need it. Look, we’re having a quieter get together tomorrow night. Come along, talk to some of us and get to know us. We might even let you become a pledge.”

“And why would I want to do that?”

Taking a step closer to Merlin, Arthur spoke quietly so that the crowd couldn’t hear him. “Because I’m giving you a chance. I suggest you take it.”

Merlin looked at him suspiciously, and it was the exact same look that Arthur’s sister gave him when she didn’t know whether to trust him or not. When Morgana gave him that look, Arthur would shrug and give up on persuading her, but now his own stubbornness was surfacing, and Arthur was reluctant to let Merlin get away with a terrible opinion of him and his friends.

It was pride, he told himself. Not wanting this complete stranger to like him. He couldn’t care less about Merlin, after all, the only thing Arthur knew about him was that he had a terrible sense of self-preservation, the inability to back down, and full pink lips that made Arthur imagine how they would feel around his cock-

No. He was proud that the Knights didn’t act like every other frat out there, and Arthur hated when people assumed that they were. That was all this was.

“How do I know you aren’t trying to trick me and when I turn up I’ll get covered with paint?”

“Because we have a reputation that we’ve spent years building. We wouldn’t ruin that just for you.”

That seemed to mollify Merlin; his cold suspicious gaze was replaced by one of curiosity that Arthur had seen a thousand times on the faces of pledges who had been invited into the Frat House for the first time. It was a look fuelled by the desire to see what really went on inside.

Then, in a motion so small that Arthur almost missed it, Merlin nodded.

Relief washed through Arthur, thankful that he been right to offer Merlin this chance. If Merlin had turned his offer down, then Arthur could only imagine what his brothers would have started thinking and saying about him behind his back. Not necessarily his close friends, but the seniors would have started questioning his membership (although that was likely to happen anyway as soon as Merlin turned up tomorrow, seemingly uninvited), and the sophomores and other juniors would have taken the opportunity to try to faze him out, with each of them vying to fill the hole that forcing Arthur out would leave. Because, while Arthur was friends with the majority of people in the frat, he had quickly made his way up the totem pole and was now a crucial member, which made him the focus of a fair amount of jealousy.

But none of that would happen, because Arthur had picked up on Merlin’s determination to stand up for what he believed in, his curiosity about frats, and possibly his insecurities about not fitting in at college. Arthur had seen Merlin’s type before, and if he managed to drop his stereotypical view of them all, and soldier through the minimal traditional hazing, then he would have no problem being accepted into the Knights.

As Arthur told Merlin the details about the next evening, their eyes met. Merlin was still looking slightly reserved about joining them, though he didn’t voice his concerns, which made Arthur smile; Merlin was a quick learner.

The crowd around them had dispersed while they had been talking, leaving a few huddles of two or three people who were still curious as to what was happening, but the majority had moved on. Arthur’s frat brothers were tidying up the scene, giving the pledge his clothes back, clearing up the bits of burst balloon, and… getting rid of the last of the water balloons by throwing them at each other. Without turning to look properly, Arthur knew that was Gwaine. He almost rolled his eyes at Gwaine’s predictability.

“Right, I’ll… see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t be late,” Arthur said with a nod of his head.

Hesitantly, Merlin turned his back on Arthur, and walked away. Arthur watched him cross the grassy square. Some of the people milling around were watching him too, and Arthur caught himself scowling at them.

“Oh, no,” said Leon, appearing at Arthur’s shoulder.

“What?”

“You aren’t using the Frat as a way to get to know potential shags.”

“Of course not, did you see the way he stepped in for that other kid? He’d fit right in.”

“Sure he would, but you can’t fool me.”

It was true - Arthur had known Leon since they were children - but that didn’t stop him from trying.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Leon raised his eyebrows at him, and Arthur gave up. There really was no point trying to convince Leon that he hadn’t been attracted to Merlin, so, instead, Arthur hit him over the head. Laughing at Leon’s exclamation of pain behind him, Arthur went to help the others clear up, and he was only slightly embarrassed at how much he was looking forward to the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to continue this after saying I would! Life sort of happened, but now I'll do my best to finish it, probably in small updates like this.
> 
> This hasn't been beta'd, any mistakes are entirely my own.

The evening had not gone according to plan, and Arthur was furious. Or he would have been, if he hadn’t drunk one too many beers. As it was, he was mildly irritated, but amusement was winning out as the dominant emotion as he watched Perceval and Leon hold down one of the pledges - Arthur thought his name was Cedric - while Gwaine drew on his face with make-up.

Arthur had raised his eyebrows at Gwaine when he had re-entered the TV room with a large make-up bag, to which Gwaine had quickly explained that it belonged to the girl he had brought home the other night. Arthur had let it drop, already feeling the tension radiating from Merlin.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Merlin move from his armchair opposite the sofa Arthur was lying on. Arthur watched him get out of the chair that he hadn’t moved from since the evening started and walk towards the door. He frowned when Merlin pulled it open and headed down the hallway without so much as a glance behind him.

Arthur felt as if the bottom had fallen out of his stomach. He’d fucked up. He’d known that he’d fucked up as soon as Leon had started passing round the beers and Cedric and the other pledge – Will - had practically pounced on them. Arthur had let them, despite knowing that they were underage. Merlin had declined the offer of a beer and gone back to sipping his Coke, barely taking his eyes from the TV screen and a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

Arthur put his beer bottle on the nearest table. He glanced over at his friends and Cedric, who now had gold eyeshadow on and a dick drawn on his cheek in neon blue eyeliner, and crossed the room, following after Merlin.

“Arthur? What -?” Gwaine looked up as Arthur left, but Arthur ignored him.

Merlin had paused by the front door to put on his coat. He didn’t look up at the sound of Arthur’s footsteps as he drew nearer, and when he pulled open the front door, Arthur panicked.

“Don’t go,” said Arthur, hoping that Merlin wouldn’t ignore him.

Merlin stopped, one foot out of the door, and turned around. Arthur winced at the stony expression on his face and stopped walking.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t.”

“It’s rude to leave without saying goodbye, at least.”

Merlin laughed. “You’ve got nerve thinking you have the right to tell people not to be rude when you bring people here to get them wasted and draw on them with make-up.”

Arthur winced again. “That wasn’t my idea.”

“But you sat by and watched.” Merlin took a step outside, and Arthur stepped closer to him, closing the distance between them but staying far enough back that Merlin wouldn’t feel threatened.

“Ok, but you’ve never tried to discourage Gwaine from doing something.” Arthur smiled, hoping that his attempt at humour would diffuse Merlin’s anger. By the way his lips went thinner, Arthur guessed that it hadn’t worked. “Come on, it’s a bit of fun, it’s not like they’re going to be scarred for life from it, plenty of other Frats do worse -”

“If your defence for everything you do is _we’re not as bad as everyone else_ then I really don’t want anything to do with you. They’re underage and you were getting them drunk, you could be arrested for that.”

Arthur stared at Merlin. His tone of voice made it seem like Merlin was ready and willing to march straight to the Police Office and report them. But Merlin didn’t move. Arthur kept staring, and Merlin held his gaze until the anger on his face slowly faded.

“Are you going to report us?” Arthur asked.

“I should do,” said Merlin, his tone bitter. He paused. “But I won't.”

“Thank you.”

There was a silence in which neither knew what to say. Arthur wanted to apologise for the evening, that it hadn’t turned out how it was supposed to, that Leon and Gwaine and Perceval had taken over, that he hadn’t been lying to trick Merlin to come. But every time Arthur tried to put together words of what to say, they sounded pathetic and not enough. Eventually, Merlin broke the silence.

“I’ll go.” Merlin turned his back. “Bye.”

“Don’t.” Arthur took a step forward. “Let’s talk.”

“I’m not going back in there,” Merlin said, raising his eyebrows.

“We don’t have to, we can sit outside.”

“Excellent, we’ll freeze.” The irritation in Merlin’s voice was only half-hearted, and he followed Arthur along the front of the house to where there was a bench beneath the kitchen window. There were noises coming from the kitchen, as well as the smell of someone’s dinner. The sounds were muffled so it was impossible to tell what was going on inside, but the kitchen light was on, meaning that they wouldn’t be talking in the dark.

Arthur sat down, and no words of wisdom came to him; he was at as much of a loss to say out here as he had been inside. Merlin didn’t seem like he was going to forgive him any time soon, no matter how much Arthur apologised.

It was worth a try though.

“I’m sorry.” Merlin didn’t say anything. There was an awkward pause. Arthur shifted slightly on the bench and continued, “I didn’t mean for tonight to get like that, it just sort of happened.”

“Yeah, I got that when you glared at Leon when he brought the beers down.”

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. This year was going to be hell if Leon was going to take advantage of them now being overage every time anyone came to visit. It had been bad enough the previous two years, even with the older students side-eyeing them when Leon brought alcohol home and keeping them in line. Now that Leon was technically an adult, it would be left to Arthur to make sure Leon and the rest of his friends didn’t get themselves in too much trouble.

“He’s an idiot.”

“Why are you friends with him?” Merlin asked, turning to look at Arthur, a crease between his eyebrows. It took Arthur a moment to collect his thoughts.

“He always means well, even if in the end it doesn’t turn out like he wanted. He’s loyal – to a fault, really – and I can always count on him to say something as it is, he won’t agree with something I say just because I said it.”

“Why would people just agree with what you say?”

 Arthur sighed.

“My father is one of the alumni who co-owns our building, but he’s the richest, so he has more influence over what goes on. I think they think I’ll tell him if I don’t like someone and he’ll do something to get rid of them.”

“Would you?”

“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t know where they got the idea from that I would, all of the alumni have had their kids go through our frat and no one ever treated them any differently, half of them got threatened to be kicked out because they acted up. ”

Arthur glanced at Merlin. He was staring straight ahead again, into the darkness, and picking at the skin around his thumb. The light in the kitchen was still on, but the muffled talking had faded into silence and all Arthur could hear was the faint sound of his own and Merlin’s breathing.

“I was bullied in school,” Merlin said. Before Arthur could register anything other than surprise at the suddenness of Merlin’s statement, he continued, “I didn’t have many friends and I kept my head down and did my work. I guess I was an easy target.

“It was… terribly cliché. I was the nerd and they were on the football team, or basketball, or athletics, or sometimes it was the rough kids who hung around the back of the school wearing their leather jackets and smoking. I think they took it in turns, it doesn’t matter. As soon as one group got bored and stopped, another would start.

“They did the usual stuff – ambush me after school, take my money, steal my stuff.  After a few years of taking turns bullying me they got bored of that and it got worse. They found out where I lived and egged me a few times. My mum was in tears, she rang up the school but nothing got done, of course.” Merlin’s tone was bitter.

Arthur was stunned. No one had ever dared mess with him or his friends in school. The other students had either got on with them, or ignored them completely, and Arthur had never understood the students who hated coming to school, because, sure, they had to do work, but they also got to see their friends every day.

But this… How many people that Arthur had known in school had gone through the same as Merlin? How many had turned up to school every day, despite knowing what was in store for them? Every day Arthur must have walked past people who were being bullied, who needed someone to stick up for them, even if it was just to step in front of them once and tell the bullies “no”. But Arthur had always done his best to stay out of other people’s problems, and because bullying had never affected him, he hadn’t believed that it was such a big problem.

A weight settled in Arthur’s stomach, a mixture of guilt and horror. For all that he tried to help others now, the realisation that he’d actively ignored and contributed to other people’s unhappiness – if only slightly – struck Arthur hard.

“I’m sorry,” Arthur said. He knew his words were too late now, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Merlin shrugged. “It’s not your fault. It’s just…” He trailed off.

“What?”

“They’d corner me around the back of the old school buildings where there never was anyone. Get me up against a wall so I couldn’t escape and throw stuff at me.”

Merlin spoke quickly, and Arthur knew that he was hiding how bad it had really been. He wondered at Merlin’s vagueness of _stuff_ being thrown at him, but why Merlin had stood up for Cedric the previous day made sense. It had reminded him of his own bullies, that he’d obviously done a good job at getting over if his reaction was to stand up for the kid rather than run away. Arthur wouldn’t be surprised if Merlin had been drawn on while asleep on a school trip or something. No wonder Merlin had been so angry earlier.

“You must hate us,” Arthur said.

“It’s hard to like people whose idea of fun is how you used to be treated by bullies,” said Merlin, and Arthur thought he heard a trace of coldness in his voice. He might have imagined it, though, because when Merlin continued there wasn’t a sign of it, “You’ve gone out of your way to persuade me to join your frat though, why?”

Arthur didn’t answer straight away. He didn’t think his initial response of “ _I wanted your lips around my cock_ ” would be appreciated.

“You had no idea who Cedric was, or what was happening, but you stepped in anyway because it wasn’t right. Did you even hesitate? How long had you been watching?”

“I hadn’t been watching. I was walking past and saw the crowd. It took a while to get close enough to see what was going on and then I stepped in.”

“That’s what I thought.” Arthur nodded. “You have a strong sense of what’s wrong and right, you help others who are in need, and you have the guts to stand up for both of those things when you need to. Plus, there’s the support network and sense of family that most freshers appreciate, even if they won’t admit it.”

“You think I needed a support network?” Merlin’s voice was full of scorn.

“You’re kidding me? You’re picking fights with older students in your first week, you definitely need a support network for when it all goes tits up,” Arthur said with a smile.

Merlin laughed – it was a low chuckle, humour mixed with embarrassment and shyness, that Arthur found oddly attractive. His smile grew fond, and Arthur turned away, grateful that they were in half darkness and there was a good chance that Merlin hadn’t caught the way Arthur had been looking at him.

Merlin’s laughed faded into silence. The light in the kitchen went out and they were plunged into darkness. After a long moment during which neither of them spoke, Arthur heard Merlin sigh.

“I don’t think Frats are for me,” Merlin said.

Arthur nodded. Then he realised that Merlin couldn’t see him in the dark and said, “That’s ok.”

“I’m going to go. It’s getting chilly out here.” It was cold for September, and Arthur had goosebumps on his arms, but not overly so, and Merlin was wearing a leather jacket. Arthur looked down, deciding that it wasn’t worth making a big deal out of Merlin making excuses to leave. Merlin stood up and turned to face Arthur. “Thank you, though.”

“It’s no problem. If you ever change your mind, let me know.” Arthur smiled up at him. “Good luck.”

Even with no light, Arthur saw the flash of Merlin’s teeth as he grinned. He walked away from Arthur, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets, hunching his shoulders in an attempt to protect himself from the cold. Arthur watched him go, wondering what it was about Merlin that had made Arthur stop being so desperate to recruit him.

Maybe it had been seeing that, actually, despite Merlin’s determination to stand up for what was right, he wouldn’t have fit in.

Or it could have been sitting down and talking to him, and seeing him as more than just another Fresher that he could mould into someone who could lead the Knights.

Whatever it was, letting go of Merlin had been easy, even if it wasn’t what he had wanted to do.

Arthur’s stomach squirmed uneasily as he stood up to go back inside.


End file.
